Cloth-cutting machine.



A. MERHIGB & G. P. GOOKSQN.

CLOTH CUTTING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED NOV. 21, 1911,

1,024,271 Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

1 AWN/5V8 COLUMBIA PLANcuRAPH 00.. WASHINGTON. n. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFTQE.

AMIN MERHIGE AND CLARENCE FRED COOKSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.; SAID COOKSONASSIGNOR- TO SAID MERHIGE.

CLOTH-CUTTING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 23, 1912.

Application filed November 21, 1911. Serial No. 661,525.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, AMIN MERHIGE and CLARENCE F. CooKsoN, both citizensof the United States, and residents of the city of New York, borough ofBrooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented anew and Improved Cloth-Cutting Machine, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide a new and improvedcloth-cutting machine, arranged to permit of conveniently followingcurved lines in cutting the material, to permit of readily adjusting thepresser foot relative to the thickness of the material to compensate forunevenness in the thickness,

' and to insure proper entering of the base under the material to beout.

In order to accomplish the desired result, use is made of a base, and astandard carrying the cutting mechanism and mounted to turn on the baseon a vertical axis.

A practical embodiment of the invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in whichsimilar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all theviews.

Figure l is a side elevation of the clothcutting machine; Fig. 2 is afront end elecation of part of the same; Fig. 3 is a like view of thesame with the hinged bearing for the presser foot swung into openposition; Fig. 4 is a plan view of the same; Fig. 5 is an enlarged crosssection of the cutter in position on the reciprocating cross head; Fig.6 is an enlarged sectional side elevation of the locking device for thepresser foo-t; Fig. 7 is a sectional plan view of the cloth-cuttingmachine on the line Z-7 of Fig. 1; Fig. 8 is an enlarged sectional sideelevation of the front end of the base in position on enteringunderneath the material; Fig. 9 is an enlarged cross section of the baseon the line 9-9 of Fig. 7 and Fig. 10 is an enlarged sectional sideelevation of the base and the bearing of the standard on the base, thesection being on the line 10-10 of Fig. 7

On the base A of the cloth-cutting machine is mounted to turn on avertical axis a standard B, provided at its upper end with a stud B anda handle O for moving the machine about. On the head B is mounted amotor D, of any approved construction, and connected by the usualmechanism E with a cross head F to which the cutter G is secured, thecutter being mounted to slide up and down in suitable bearings arrangedon the front end of the standard B. The cross head F is mounted to slidein a bearing having a fixed member H on the head B, and a gib H movableon the said head and provided with a notch H engaged by the head of ascrew I screwing in the under side of the head B. Thus when the crosshead F gets loose in the bearing, that is, between the member H and thegib H then the operator on adjusting the screw I can move the gib H inthe direction of its length to take up the wear, it being understoodthat the outer face of the gib H is beveled and engages a correspondingbevel H 011 the head B.

On the front end of the head B is ar rangeda bearing J hinged at J tothe head B, to permit of swinging the said bearing J into an openposition to gain access to the gib H for proper adjustment thereof, asabove explained, the bearing J, however, normally overlying the front ofthe gib H vand the member H, and being secured in this position by ascrew J as plainly indicated in Fig. 2. The bearing J is engaged by theshank K of the presser foot K adapted to rest on top of the material tobe cut by the cutter G, and the said shank K is slidable up and down inthe bearing J and is normally held in a locked position by rings Larranged on the top and bottom of the bearing J. The opening of eachring L is approximately of the size of the di' ameter of the shank K sothat when a ring L is in an inclined position it looks the shank Kagainst movement in the bearing J. The rear end of each ring L rests onthe bearing J and the front of the ring is pressed on at the under sideby a pin L mounted to slide in the bearing J and pressed on by a springL so as to normally hold each pin L in an outermost position and thering L in an inclined position. Each pin L is provided with a stop pin Lextending in a slot L arranged in the hearing J so as to limit the up ordown sliding movement of the pin L.

hen it is desired to release the shank K and with it the presser foot Kit is only necessary for the operator to press on the front raised endsof the rings L to release the shank K and thus allow the same to dropwith a view to engage the presser foot ,K with the top of the materialto be cut.

The shank K of the presser foot K is provided with a sleeve K into whichfits slidingly the polygonal arm K of the presser foot K, and the saidarm K is pressed on by a spring K held in the sleeve K to allow thepresser foot K to yield on its shank K. The arm K is provided with astop pin K extending through aslot K arranged on the sleeve K to limitthe up or down sliding movement of the arm K in the sleeve K Now whenthe presser foot K is engaged with the material the operator presses theshank K downward suhiciently far to cause the arm K to slide up or downin the sleeve K to place the spring K under tension, and when thepresser foot K moves onto a lesser thickness of the material then thespring K forces the presser foot K downward to properly engage thematerial at the uneven thickness, thus insuring at all times a uniformpressure on the material during the cutting operation.

The lower end of the standard B is pro vided with a disk B having anannular flange B (see Fig. 10) engaging an annular guideway or a bearingA formed in the base A, and between the disk B and the base A isarranged a ball bearing N so that the disk B and with it the standard Bcan readily turn in the base A. A retaining ring 0 is secured in arecess in the top of the base A and projects over the flange B so as tohold the said flange in its bearing A, at the same time allowing readyturning of the standard B on the base A. By the arrangement described,the operator having hold of the handle C can readily push the machinealong and at the same time turn the standard B on the base A to permitconvenient cutting of the material along the curved lines as it is notnecessary to turn the base A with the standard B. The standard B can belocked to the base A at any desired position, and for this purpose useis made of a locking bar P mounted to slide vertically in suitablebearings P arranged on the standard B. The lower end of the pin P isadapted to engage one of a series of recesses 0 formed in the face ofthe retaining ring 0 to lock the standard B against turning on the baseA. The pin P is provided with an arm P pivotally connected by a link Pwith a lever P arranged below the handle C so that the operator canconveniently take hold of the lever P and swing the same upward with aView to raise the pin P and thus disengage the same from thecorresponding recess 0 to allow of turning the standard B on the base A.A spring B is coiled on the rod P intermediate the upper bearing P andthe arm P, so as to normally force the rod P downward into engagementwith a recess 0 on the operator releasing the lever P In order to insurean easy traveling of the base A over the cutting table, use is made ofroller Q (see Fig. 9) journaled in bearings Q, attached to the underside of a disk Q provided with a flange Q engaging a bearing or guidewayA formed in the under side of the base A. A retaining ring Q is securedin a recess in the under side of the base A and engages the flange Q soas to hold the disk Q is posit-ion on the base A. A ball bearing R isinterposed between the base A and the disk Q so that the latter canfreely turn, thus carrying the rollers Q around according to thedirection in which the base A is pushed at the time. The rollers Qextend a short distance below the base A so as to hold the under sidethereof a distance above the cutting table, and the front of the base Ais provided with a point A hinged at its rear end at A on the base A, soas to permit the point A to swing downward into contact with the cuttingtable to readily pass under the lowermost layer of the material to becut by the cutter G (see Fig. 8

From the foregoing it will be seen that by the arrangement described thematerial can be readily out along straight or curved lines especially asthe standard B carrying the cutting mechanism can be turned on avertical axis on the base A and the base A can be readily pushed forwardover the cutting table in any desired direction owing to the mount-ingof the rollers Q, on the turntable disks Q It will also be seen that thepresser foot K can be readily adjusted and locked in place oncorrespondingly manipulating the rings L, and convenient access is hadto the gib H for adjusting the latter to take up the wear between thecross head F and its bearing on swinging the bearing J into an openposition and with it the presser foot Having thus described ourinvention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A cloth-cutting machine, comprising a base, a standard mounted toturn on the said base, cloth-cutting mechanism mounted on the saidstandard, and a manually-controlled locking bar mounted to slide on thestandard for locking the said standard against turning on the said base.

2. A cloth-cutting machine, comprising a base having a circular'guidewayand a ball bearing, a standardhaving a disk at its lower end, the diskbeing provided with an annular flange fitting into the said guideway andthe said disk resting on the said ball bearing, a retaining ring on thesaid base and engaging the said flange and provided on top with spacedrecesses, and a manually-controlled locking bar mounted to slide on thesaid standard and adapted to engage one of the said recesses.

3. A cloth-cutting machine having a base,

disks mounted to turn on the under side of the base and provided at theunder side with rollers to hold the base a distance above the cuttingtable, the base having a pivoted front point adapted to rest with itsterminal on the cutting table to readily pass under the material on thesaid table.

4. A cloth-cutting machine having a base, disks mounted to turn on theunder side of the said base, rollers carried by the said disks, and ballbearings between the base and the said disks.

5. A cloth-cutting machine having a base provided at the under side withan annular guideway, a disk having an annular flange engaging the saidguideway, a retaining ring on the under side of the base and engagingthe said flange, a ball bearing between the disk and base, and a rollerjournaled on the under side of the disk.

6. A cloth-cutting machine, comprising a base, a standard rising fromthe base and having a head, a cutter mounted to slide on the saidstandard, a cross head carrying the said cutter and mounted toreciprocate in the said head, a motor on the said head and connectedwith the said cross head, a hearing for the? said cross head in the saidstandard head, the said bearing having a fixed and an adjustable member,a presser foot, and a bearing for the said presser foot. and hinged tothe said standard head, the said bearing normally overlying the front ofthe adjustable and fixed members of the bearing for the cross head.

7 A cloth-cutting machine provided with a standard having a head, anadjustable bearing mounted in the said head, a cutter cross head mountedto slide in the said bearing, a presser foot, and a bearing for the saidpresser foot and hinged on the said standard head the said bearingnormally overlying the bearing for the cross head.

8. A cloth-cutting machine provided with a standard having a head, anadjustable bearing mounted in the said head, a cutter cross head mountedto slide in the said hearing, a presser foot, a bearing for the saidpresser foot and hinged on the said standard head the said bearingnormally overlying the adjustable bearing for the cross head and adaptedto be swung with the presser foot into an open position to permit ofadjusting the said adjustable bearing, and

means for locking the said bearing for the presser foot in closedposition on the said standard head.

9. A cloth-cutting mechanism provided with a bearing, a presser foothaving a shank slidably engaging the said bearing, and a spring-pressedlocking ring through which passes the said shank, the ring resting atthe rear on the said bearing, and a spring-pressed pin pressing thefront end of' the ring to hold the latter normally inclined to lock theshank in place.

10. A cloth cutting machine, comprising a base, a standard mounted onthe base and having a head, a cutting mechanism mounted on the standard,a bearing on the head, a presser foot having a shank slidably engagingthe bearing, locking rings through which the said shank passes, andmeans engaging the locking rings to hold the latter normally in lockingposition on the said shank.

11. A cloth cutting machine, comprising a base having a circularguideway and a ball bearing, a standard having a disk at its lower endprovided with an annular flange fitting in the said guideway, the saiddisk resting on the ball bearing, a retain ing ring secured to the baseand engaging the said flange, a cutting mechanism mounted on thestandard, and a locking device for locking the standard against turningon the base.

12. A cloth cutting machine, comprising a base, a standard on said basehaving a head, a bearing on the said standard head having a fixedmember, and a member movable on the head and having its outer facebeveled to engage a corresponding bevel on the said standard head, thesaid movable member being provided with a notch, a screw screwing in thesaid standard head and having a head engaging the notch in the movablemember of said bearing to adjust the latter, a cutter, and a cross headmounted to reciprocate in the said bearing and carrying the said cutter.

13. A cloth cutting machine, comprising a base, a standard mounted toturn on the base and having a head, a cross head mounted to reciprocatein the said standard head, a cutter carried by said cross head, a motoron the said standard head and connected with the cross head, a presserfoot having a shank, a bearing on the standard head slidably engaged bythe shank of the presser foot, means for locking the said shank inplace, and means for locking the said standard against turning on thebase.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

AMIN MERHIGE. CLARENCE FRED COOKSON.

Witnesses PHILIP J REILLY, H. C. KRICKMIER.

fiopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

